North India has been completely dominated by intensified winter conditions to the fullest extent possible, which are marked by a combination of frost and fog and severe chill. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has announced multiple alerts in red, orange and yellow for Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi NCR and Bihar, as the temperatures have gone down to the level of seasonal averages or even less. Thick to very thick fog has covered the early mornings and night hours completely, which has caused a drastic reduction in visibility not only on highways but also in city roads and at airports; consequently, the flow of road travel has been affected and there have been flight delays and cancellations at the major hubs like Delhi’s airport.
Weather Update Today: Delhi’s Weather
Meteorologists inform that the interplay of the cold wave and stagnant fog conditions is being made stronger by the continual wind directions, an atmospheric inversion layer, and western disturbances migrating in the upper air. The combined effects of these weather systems are reducing the maximum temperatures while the fog is creeping up all the way to the daytime, thus causing the traffic to slow down and commuting to be more difficult for millions. In Uttar Pradesh, lack of visibility has been a major issue in the districts from Lucknow to Agra and Gorakhpur due to the heavy fog, which has led the state government to take precautionary measures such as school closures and changes in the timing of various activities in some areas.
Weather Update Today: North India
The meteorological conditions at the start of the year for North India are very difficult, as the IMD has foreseen that these severe winter conditions will likely continue until early January. Besides the cold wave and fog, the precipitation in the form of rain and snow is also forecasted for some of the higher Himalayan regions, thereby making the winter more severe. The authorities are still advising the public to keep following the weather alerts that are being issued locally, to take all the necessary steps to protect themselves from the cold and to travel with caution as the disruptions are still ongoing.
